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Barrett:
Dead on target with your response to the query "where were the Germans during the cold war." I was a control and reporting center crew Senior Director with a combined US Army, USAF, and GAF crew. I also had access to a wide range of Intell assessments, including some intercepted Soviet Force evaluations of Allied capabilities. The Germans scared the hell out of the Soviets and with good cause. While the American strategy for WW 3 was to fight a reargaurd action and to try to hold at the Rhine (or more likely the Seine) for reinforcements, the German attitude was to give no ground and to "retreat" in force (so as to be in "full" compliance with the American OPLAN) towards Moscow. In retrospect they were closer to being right than were the Americans.
As for the suggestion that the Brits are the economic and political leaders of Europe (made by another, not you), what utter nonsense. I love the Brits, but they are an economic shambles, particularly as compared to the German juggernaut. The very reason the Brits aren't participating in the full measure of EU initiatives is because they know the likelihood is that the Germans and the French will simply swallow them. Britain (sadly from my view) is not the leading European state, much less a significant player on the world stage. (The Brits are right to be hesitant about the EU: it will reduce Britain to a mere European state (with a small "s"), destroy what makes Britain Britain, and will ultimately reduce the British citizenries' voice in their own governance.) ..... Uh,.... ahem....uhh.. which will reduce funding for WW 1 airplane museums and study. (There , that wasn't too far off topic, was it?)
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